Training Log Archive: BigWillyStyleIn the 7 days ending Apr 27, 2014:
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Sunday Apr 27, 2014 #
10 AM
Orienteering race 1:14:25 [5] *** 9.9 km (7:31 / km) +385m 6:18 / km
24c
As if the relay wasn't enough, I also got my very first M21 A-meet win this weekend - even if it was by one, two, three seconds. I had a really good race overall; AP says I lost no time, but I definitely bled 15-30s two or three times among the first five controls - mainly 3, 4 and 5, on all of which I made some sort of minor compass or route choice error which caused me to travel more distance than necessary. I also took the first control slower than usual, not wanting to start things off poorly.
After 5 I was basically clean, without anything that could rightly be called a mistake. My legs felt springier and less sluggish than yesterday, and I was able to run up most of the hills. I think I need to alter my taper routine to guard against whatever happens to your legs when you don't train for 4-5 days in a row.
Assorted other notes from the weekend:
-- I get to add no less than THREE states to my orienteering list after Saturday's courses took place in Pennsylvania and most also crossed the Mason-Dixon Line into Maryland (in my case, we forayed about 50 meters across, then went straight back again - still counts!), while Sunday's was in Delaware. Delaware! First in the First State! I am irrationally excited about this. I believe my list is up to 15 states.
-- My ongoing campaign to actually meet in real life everyone else associated with the U.S. team saw some solid progress. I met Ken Walker Jr, Alex Jospe, Sergei Zhyk and Peter Gagarin. Naturally, they are all interesting and friendly people whom it's a pleasure to know.
-- Books: I finished Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman on the planes. I thoroughly enjoyed both and would highly recommend them.
After 5 I was basically clean, without anything that could rightly be called a mistake. My legs felt springier and less sluggish than yesterday, and I was able to run up most of the hills. I think I need to alter my taper routine to guard against whatever happens to your legs when you don't train for 4-5 days in a row.
Assorted other notes from the weekend:
-- I get to add no less than THREE states to my orienteering list after Saturday's courses took place in Pennsylvania and most also crossed the Mason-Dixon Line into Maryland (in my case, we forayed about 50 meters across, then went straight back again - still counts!), while Sunday's was in Delaware. Delaware! First in the First State! I am irrationally excited about this. I believe my list is up to 15 states.
-- My ongoing campaign to actually meet in real life everyone else associated with the U.S. team saw some solid progress. I met Ken Walker Jr, Alex Jospe, Sergei Zhyk and Peter Gagarin. Naturally, they are all interesting and friendly people whom it's a pleasure to know.
-- Books: I finished Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman on the planes. I thoroughly enjoyed both and would highly recommend them.
Saturday Apr 26, 2014 #
12 PM
Note
National Champions!!!!! This victory is for every Cascade member - everybody back home in Seattle and those spread out elsewhere.
Orienteering race 21:53 [5] *** 3.4 km (6:26 / km) +60m 5:55 / km
12c
You know how sometimes when you're training, you visualize things like crossing the finish line first with everybody cheering, or that Eric or Ian (shout-out) are breathing down your neck on the run to the finish, and so on?
I'll have to think up a new motivational scenario now, because mine was entirely fulfilled and indeed surpassed by this relay - brought to life in brilliant, brilliant color. I only wish the moment hadn't passed so quickly, the better to remember it. It's true what (real) athletes say about not being able to hear the cheers. When I reached the last control, I honestly wanted to just stop and take everything in for a minute or two, or whip out a Go Pro. Incidentally this may have caused great consternation among Tori and Eric, who were waiting at the chute to run in with me.
That's another thing - having relay teammates, and a whole club of teammates in Seattle, to share the happiness with makes everything so much better than merely running for yourself.
My actual race is a bit of a footnote and was nothing special, but hey I'll talk about it anyway! We were fourth after Tori's run; she wasn't happy with her race but we were still in a solid position only six or so minutes back of CSU in first, and less than three back of SVO and DVOA 2. Eric brought us back into a virtual tie for second, as he and Eddie finished together, and made up about half the gap on CSU.
We had hoped SVO's third leg runner wouldn't be a huge threat, so I basically went out with only one goal in mind - make up three minutes as quickly as possible. I had a bobble right off the bat, going to 9 instead of 1 - only ~20s lost. The next couple were clean, then I saw Izzy across an open field in front of me. I managed to pull ahead just before punching 4, then completely overran 5 and she took the lead back - close to 1:00 lost. I actually got lucky here - the control feature didn't at all match what I thought I saw in the terrain, but I realized I had gone too far and happened to look back and see Izzy punching. Back in second by ~20s. I was able to jump ahead up the hill to 6, then to 7 and across the spectator field (don't trip, look faux pro) to the final section of short legs. I took the last few controls at a notch or two below top speed - just trying to be safe and avoid a complete blow-up. Triple-checking every control code, taking an extra second at each glance of the map, but I still managed to lose ~30s on 9. Then out of the woods to the finish!
I probably lost about two minutes total, which is obviously not ideal on a sprint-length course, and could have broken 20:00 with a good clean run. But no complaints, I'm a national champion! This is something that has never happened before, if you couldn't tell already. Eric said he has been trying to win the relay champs for 20 years now, and it's the only U.S. championship event he hadn't won, so we're happy to help him finally get it done.
I'll have to think up a new motivational scenario now, because mine was entirely fulfilled and indeed surpassed by this relay - brought to life in brilliant, brilliant color. I only wish the moment hadn't passed so quickly, the better to remember it. It's true what (real) athletes say about not being able to hear the cheers. When I reached the last control, I honestly wanted to just stop and take everything in for a minute or two, or whip out a Go Pro. Incidentally this may have caused great consternation among Tori and Eric, who were waiting at the chute to run in with me.
That's another thing - having relay teammates, and a whole club of teammates in Seattle, to share the happiness with makes everything so much better than merely running for yourself.
My actual race is a bit of a footnote and was nothing special, but hey I'll talk about it anyway! We were fourth after Tori's run; she wasn't happy with her race but we were still in a solid position only six or so minutes back of CSU in first, and less than three back of SVO and DVOA 2. Eric brought us back into a virtual tie for second, as he and Eddie finished together, and made up about half the gap on CSU.
We had hoped SVO's third leg runner wouldn't be a huge threat, so I basically went out with only one goal in mind - make up three minutes as quickly as possible. I had a bobble right off the bat, going to 9 instead of 1 - only ~20s lost. The next couple were clean, then I saw Izzy across an open field in front of me. I managed to pull ahead just before punching 4, then completely overran 5 and she took the lead back - close to 1:00 lost. I actually got lucky here - the control feature didn't at all match what I thought I saw in the terrain, but I realized I had gone too far and happened to look back and see Izzy punching. Back in second by ~20s. I was able to jump ahead up the hill to 6, then to 7 and across the spectator field (don't trip, look faux pro) to the final section of short legs. I took the last few controls at a notch or two below top speed - just trying to be safe and avoid a complete blow-up. Triple-checking every control code, taking an extra second at each glance of the map, but I still managed to lose ~30s on 9. Then out of the woods to the finish!
I probably lost about two minutes total, which is obviously not ideal on a sprint-length course, and could have broken 20:00 with a good clean run. But no complaints, I'm a national champion! This is something that has never happened before, if you couldn't tell already. Eric said he has been trying to win the relay champs for 20 years now, and it's the only U.S. championship event he hadn't won, so we're happy to help him finally get it done.
Wednesday Apr 23, 2014 #
8 PM
Strength 27:00 [3]
I was watching one of the Hobbit movies the other day. There were some landscapey shots of some bad dudes chasing the good dudes across woods and fields and whatnot, and the thought popped into my head how nice the terrain would be for orienteering. Very open pine forests - it reminded me of the old central Washington maps, or even the Rocky Mountain 1000 Days.
This is how you know you think about orienteering too much.
This is how you know you think about orienteering too much.
Monday Apr 21, 2014 #
Note
Today I put in for time off for both COC/WCOC and NAOC, woohoo!
I'm taking the entire week of August 4-8, which is awesome because my parents will be here/there. The one O-regret I have is that my dad hasn't been around to witness my orienteering improvement first-hand, because I know he would have enjoyed it. I'm also taking October 9-10/13-14 off, to get a good four full days in Ottawa.
I have too much vacation time allocated to other stuff to be able to take both the COC/WCOC week and the USOC/NAOC week off. Being able to do three of the four, in effect I'm choosing the Western Canadians over U.S. Nationals, and the Canadians over the U.S. Classics.
What does this mean??? Am I turning Canadian? I really think so!
I'm taking the entire week of August 4-8, which is awesome because my parents will be here/there. The one O-regret I have is that my dad hasn't been around to witness my orienteering improvement first-hand, because I know he would have enjoyed it. I'm also taking October 9-10/13-14 off, to get a good four full days in Ottawa.
I have too much vacation time allocated to other stuff to be able to take both the COC/WCOC week and the USOC/NAOC week off. Being able to do three of the four, in effect I'm choosing the Western Canadians over U.S. Nationals, and the Canadians over the U.S. Classics.
What does this mean??? Am I turning Canadian? I really think so!